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brogan7's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
A delightful book. Clever, lighthearted, still serious but not heavy. It opens with the story of Kay, travelling in a boat from Yarmouth to the south Pacific in 1911. It talks about Kay's childhood, a murky place of undefined (at first) memories, some of them clearly traumatic. Then Kay, who is travelling with her sister and brother in law, experiences a life changing event: her sister adopts a little boy, a Micronesian boy, acquired from unclear circumstances...
The whole story unfurls to the rhythm of the sea, the steady motion of the ship, the sightings of whales, the storms and the still times, with the deckhands climbing up the rigging...
Reminiscent of The signature of all things by Elizabeth Gilbert, I liked this one even better.
It resists the urge to overtell, and lets the reader want what they want.
If I have one small criticism, it is that it is emotionally a bit superficial. Even with all of Kay's nightmares, we don't quite feel the emotional burden of the realities it discusses: the horrors are all off-stage as it were. This makes it very readable and easy at some level, but perhaps a bit too posh, a bit privileged in its distance.
Still. A pleasure to read.
The whole story unfurls to the rhythm of the sea, the steady motion of the ship, the sightings of whales, the storms and the still times, with the deckhands climbing up the rigging...
Reminiscent of The signature of all things by Elizabeth Gilbert, I liked this one even better.
It resists the urge to overtell, and lets the reader want what they want.
If I have one small criticism, it is that it is emotionally a bit superficial. Even with all of Kay's nightmares, we don't quite feel the emotional burden of the realities it discusses: the horrors are all off-stage as it were. This makes it very readable and easy at some level, but perhaps a bit too posh, a bit privileged in its distance.
Still. A pleasure to read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage and Colonisation
Minor: Genocide, Animal death, and Racism
TW: adoption, removal from birth family and culturefrances_ab's review
4.0
This was an amazing South Seas adventure, set at the turn of the last century, which touches on issues of colonialism, family, and friendship over the years.
Kay Ward, a young teen, is setting sail with her older sister Thea and her husband Francis, the Captain of the Morning Light, to sail around the world delivering cargo and the occasional passengers. Kay and Thea have left behind the residential school in Western Canada where their father and Thea were teachers, the memories of which still haunt Kay's dreams. Along the way they pick up an Anglican Priest, Mr Brimner, who is going to teach in the South Seas, and he becomes Kay's tutor on the journey.
10 years later, Kay and her adopted brother set out again to retake this journey, this time on a steamer.
The descriptions of the sea and the places visited, and of the life and feel of being on a long distance ship made for wonderful reading, particularly in this time of restricted travel and adventure, and made me long for a sea voyage. Endicott's inclusion of the experiences of the Canadian residential schools, and other issues around home and culture and adoption and belonging, added a depth and a relevance to the story to today. The beautiful writing, both of character and of scenery, and the description of travelling in the early 20th century, made this an engaging and compelling read, a chance to escape and a chance to learn.
Kay Ward, a young teen, is setting sail with her older sister Thea and her husband Francis, the Captain of the Morning Light, to sail around the world delivering cargo and the occasional passengers. Kay and Thea have left behind the residential school in Western Canada where their father and Thea were teachers, the memories of which still haunt Kay's dreams. Along the way they pick up an Anglican Priest, Mr Brimner, who is going to teach in the South Seas, and he becomes Kay's tutor on the journey.
10 years later, Kay and her adopted brother set out again to retake this journey, this time on a steamer.
The descriptions of the sea and the places visited, and of the life and feel of being on a long distance ship made for wonderful reading, particularly in this time of restricted travel and adventure, and made me long for a sea voyage. Endicott's inclusion of the experiences of the Canadian residential schools, and other issues around home and culture and adoption and belonging, added a depth and a relevance to the story to today. The beautiful writing, both of character and of scenery, and the description of travelling in the early 20th century, made this an engaging and compelling read, a chance to escape and a chance to learn.
vrobert's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
muchthatisfair's review
4.0
I really liked this book, with the one caveat that it also felt like the longest book in the world. Pensive and slow and deliberate and GOOD, but also so long.
penny_literaryhoarders's review
5.0
I spent a long time reading this one, longer than I normally seem to spend reading a book - and I didn't mind one bit, I never felt I had to hurry it along, or hoped for it to hurry up and end, I simply enjoyed every chance I was able to spend reading it. There are many things to say about how wonderful this story was: the whales, the people, the writing, the story....I found this to be extremely companionable to [a:Michael Crummey|171079|Michael Crummey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1299276639p2/171079.jpg] [b:The Innocents|44540158|The Innocents|Michael Crummey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553026752l/44540158._SY75_.jpg|69124026] for reasons I cannot properly articulate. And as I reached the end, I realized it is extremely companionable as well to [a:William Kent Krueger|71170|William Kent Krueger|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1407117369p2/71170.jpg] [b:This Tender Land|25813942|This Tender Land|William Kent Krueger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565526433l/25813942._SY75_.jpg|45670651] - another immensely satisfying and enjoyable coming-of-age story, with every bit the same adventure feelings, Odyssey-like, reconciliation, redemption, residential-school details (and so many more things wonderfully examined and told inside).
Why has Endicott's book been overlooked this year for Canadian literary prizes like the Giller and the now too familiar list of books on the Writers' Trust award - it features a majority of the same titles as the Giller. I so sincerely hope the Governor General's Literary Awards remedy this with their upcoming announcement - both by including Endicott's book but also giving us a wider selection of great Canadian literature outside of the ones already nominated. There is room here for the inclusion of many other titles in CanLit and I really hope to see The Difference included!
Why has Endicott's book been overlooked this year for Canadian literary prizes like the Giller and the now too familiar list of books on the Writers' Trust award - it features a majority of the same titles as the Giller. I so sincerely hope the Governor General's Literary Awards remedy this with their upcoming announcement - both by including Endicott's book but also giving us a wider selection of great Canadian literature outside of the ones already nominated. There is room here for the inclusion of many other titles in CanLit and I really hope to see The Difference included!
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